Amazon and Salesforce are getting so popular they\u2019ve started infiltrating top accounts that have historically belonged to IBM. Amazon\u2019s new partnership with the Nasdaq announced the other day is a good for instance.<\/p>\n
So IBM has decided to fight fire with fire by going after the mid-sized businesses \u2013 concerns with less than a 1,000 employees \u2013 where Amazon and Salesforce are quite at home and peddle these companies Big Blue clouds they probably never knew IBM had or thought they could afford given IBM\u2019s penchant for carriage trade pricing.<\/p>\n
Reportedly IBM is going to adjust its pricing and trust its reputation and techno-smarts to make up any difference.<\/p>\n
Big Blue is apparently hoping little sales \u2013 little by its lights \u2013 will add up to something substantial.<\/p>\n
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff claims IBM has lost its mojo and told the Wall Street Journal it \u201cdoesn\u2019t own the technology like they did in the last wave.\u201d He certainly hasn\u2019t been seeing IBM in his accounts.<\/p>\n
IBM, however, will be using partners such as Infor, Highland Solutions and 1,400 MSPs to penetrate his flanks with IBM PureSystem technology and rebranded OpenStack-beholden SmartCloud software for building public, private, and hybrid cloud. Naturally there will be analytics too.<\/p>\n
They will be using their own data centers and IBM\u2019s money (in the form of zero percent loans).<\/p>\n
IBM has got so-called centers of excellence in Shanghai, Tokyo, New York and Germany where MSPs can get training and aims to devote a \u201csubstantial part\u201d of a $100 million marketing budget to the cause.<\/p>\n
IBM is depending on the cloud as well as emerging markets, analytics and smart cities to increase its revenue stream.<\/p>\n
Gartner estimates the sale of cloud computing services will reach about $58 billion this year, up about $8 billion since 2011.<\/p>\n